Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare
First National Review Conference on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana inaugurated at Bengaluru today
First National Review Conference on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana inaugurated at Bengaluru today
Bengaluru, November 16, 2018
The First National Review Conference on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is being inaugurated by Shri. Subhash Chandra Khuntia, Chairman, IRDA here today.
Addressing the inaugural session of the conference Shri. Subhash Chandra Khuntia said that the Agriculture Sector employs 50% of the total workforce of our country. Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is the largest crop insurance scheme in the world which aims at providing financial support to farmers suffering from crop loss he said. Speaking about the need of strengthening the grievance redressal mechanism of PMFBY, Shri. Khuntia said that, the insurance companies should have robust grievance redressal mechanism to address the grievances of farmers related to PMFBY. They should set up call centres to answer the queries of farmers without delay. The Insurance companies, state governments and banks should appoint ground level staff to create awareness about Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana among small and medium farmers. This will enable farmers in utilising the benefits of the scheme fully he added. Shri. Khuntia urged the insurance companies to make Crop Cutting Experiments  in a fair and transparent manner.
Shri. Khuntia urged Insurance companies to settle the crop insurance claims in a fast manner. He said both central and state governments to work jointly for the effective implementation of PMFBY and during adverse weather conditions crop advisories should be given to farmers to reduce the risk and loss he added.
Shri. Maheshwara Rao M, Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of Karnataka addressing the gathering said that, Insurance companies should appoint one person from their side in every district to enable farmers to reach out the insurance companies easily to get their queries resolved.
Shri. Sachindra Pratap Singh, Commissioner of Agriculture, Maharashtra stressed on the need to give basic literacy about PMFBY to farmers.
The insurance companies such as HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Ltd, Agriculture Insurance Company of India, Oriental Insurance Company Ltd which secured top places in the website ranking conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for quarter ending September 2018, were felicitated during the occasion.
The two -day conference will have series of sessions on topics such as Performance Evaluation of PMFBY, Role of Technology in current Crop Insurance in Global scenario, Information, Education and Communication Strategy for PMFBY, Crop Insurance: Implementation issues and Challenges, Best practices by Banks for implementation of PMFBY...etc. During the two day conference the CEO, PMFBY will have side meetings with the pre identified states. Representatives from the Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, State Governments, Insurance Companies, Banks, State Cooperative Banks and other stakeholders are expected to participate in the conference.